Sacramento prepares for strong winds, more flooding as second winter storm bears down
The second major storm in less than a week rolled into Northern California on Wednesday, bringing renewed concerns of flooding, downed trees and power outages in a region still recovering from a vicious New Year’s Eve event.
A first wave of the storm dropped moderate rain totals on the region by mid-day Wednesday, ranging from about a tenth of an inch in the eastern Sacramento suburbs to nearly a half-inch in Woodland. Calm morning winds gave way to stronger gusts in the afternoon and evening, with forecasters predicting that some areas would see squalls as high as 55 miles per hour overnight.
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide emergency declaration in response to the storms and growing flood danger, Nancy Ward, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, announced during a news conference Wednesday morning. Three people have died in the state since the New Year’s storm hit, including a woman whose body was found outside a vehicle Wednesday in a flooded area near Dillard Road south of Elk Grove.
“We anticipate that this may be one of the most challenging and impactful series of storms to touch down in California in the last five years,” said Ward, whom Newsom appointed director of Cal OES on New Year’s Eve. “If the storm materializes as we anticipate, we could see widespread flooding, mudslides and power outages in many communities.”
Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, said extremely gusty winds were expected to be the primary force behind the storm damage.
“This is an extreme weather event, and we’re moving from extreme drought to extreme flooding,” Nemeth said.
“What that means is a lot of our trees are stressed after three years of intensive drought, the ground is saturated and there is a significant chance of downed trees that will create significant problems — potentially flooding problems, potentially power problems.”
State transportation officials urged Californians not to traverse the roadways Thursday unless absolutely necessary.
“Stay home; avoid those nonessential trips, at least until the peak of this storm subsides,” Caltrans Director Tony Tavares said. Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol “will be proactively closing roadways if we feel the conditions are unsafe,” Tavares said.
Rain, downed trees
The worst of the storm was forecast to strike late Wednesday and early Thursday. By the time the weather clears, more than 2 inches of rain is expected to fall on Sacramento County.
Hundreds of trees fell during the New Year’s Eve storm, and more were expected to fall as the winds picked up late Wednesday and into Thursday.
In midtown Sacramento, 28th Street between K and L streets was closed off Wednesday as crews cleared fallen trees and clogged storm drains. That block is just outside the Sutter Medical Center and Sutter’s Fort.
Toppled trees from the weekend storm blocked roadways and knocked out power throughout the region. Some 450 homes and businesses across Sacramento County remained without power Wednesday afternoon, Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s online outage map showed. Many of those have been stuck in an outage since the weekend, when more than 165,000 SMUD customers lost power during the New Year’s Eve storm.
SMUD more than doubled its field crew total, from 16 to 33 teams working toward power restoration, the company said in a social media post Tuesday.
“Restoration efforts can be slowed when winds are too high for crews to safely work or access is limited or not possible due to floods,” SMUD tweeted.
The utility provider also reminded residents not to attempt to remove fallen tree limbs or other debris from downed power lines.
“Tree limbs and other objects can conduct electricity that can shock anyone coming in contact with them.”
People who rely on electricity for medical devices, people in flood-risk areas as well as unsheltered homeless people are at the greatest risk of harm, and emergency officials urged Sacramento residents to seek shelter or stay at home — off the roads and away from trees.
Residents can sign up for emergency alerts at sacramento-alert.org and should, if possible, stock up on water, put gas in their cars, preemptively charge necessary electronic devices and check their flashlights’ battery life. Placer County has set up a webpage for emergency alerts at placer.ca.gov/ReadyPlacerDash.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors ratified an emergency proclamation over the winter storms in a special meeting Tuesday, paving the way for the county to get additional funds from the state, as well as aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The county’s Office of Emergency Services has been activated since Dec. 28, in anticipation of the first damaging storm that started Dec. 31.
“We are anticipating a fairly strong storm,” Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins, chief of emergency services in the county, said at the Tuesday board meeting. “Its highest impact is going to be heavy rain and very, very strong winds, not necessarily in that confined two-hour period that we experienced Saturday evening. ... I’m concerned about sustained gusts of wind throughout the day that could topple trees.”
Flooding concerns
Several homes and roads near the Cosumnes River in south Sacramento County were flooded during the New Year’s Eve storm. That part of the region remained a concern as rain falling on the Sierra foothills drives downhill into the already-sogged Valley floor.
Point Pleasant, near the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers, remained under an evacuation order. Residents of Wilton, where two private levees failed Sunday, remained in a shelter-in-place order.
State water officials said they were confident the elaborate flood control system in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds will be able to handle the onslaught of rain.
Latest doppler radar loop for Northern California
Two weirs north of Sacramento — one in Sutter County, the other in Colusa County — designed to divert water from the Sacramento River overflowed over the weekend. The weirs are expected to do the same Thursday, providing pivotal relief to the river system, Gary Lippner, deputy director of flood management and dam safety with the state Department of Water Resources, said.
However, Lippner said state water officials do not anticipate they’ll have to open the Sacramento Weir, a manual control point located between the Yolo Causeway and Garden Highway about 3 miles north of downtown Sacramento.
“There is a fair amount of capacity in the system certainly to handle the forecasted flows for this week, and we continue to monitor that system very closely,” Lippner said.
Still, Lippner said “you will still see some flooding and flood impacts around Sacramento and the Sacramento River.” For example, Discovery Park, at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers, was already flooded Tuesday and the water “will continue to rise there,” he said.
There’s also concern for mudslides in the burn areas of the Sierra. A flash flood warning from the National Weather Service is in effect through Thursday morning warning residents of possible debris flows in the Caldor, Mosquito and River fire scars.
Sierra snow
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning in the Sierra Nevada for elevations above 5,000 feet, lasting through early Friday.
“Be prepared for chain controls, major travel delays, possible road closures, and periods of whiteout conditions. AVOID mountain travel if you can!” the agency tweeted.
Up to 2 feet of snow is expected above 5,000 feet and 3 feet could fall at higher peaks. Wind gusts are expected to hit 65 mph.
Snow levels were expected to rise to around 6,000 feet by late Wednesday before dropping Thursday morning.
This storm is expected to be colder than the New Year’s Eve weather event. That means the Sierra snowpack — a key element of the state’s water supply — will get another boost after an already strong start to the season.
State water officials said Tuesday that the snowpack at Phillips Station along Highway 50 was at 177% of average for this time of the year. Statewide, the average snow-water equivalent is 17.1 inches — 174% of the historical average.
“While we see a terrific snowpack and that in and of itself is an opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief, we are by no means out of the woods when it comes to the drought,” Nemeth, the state Department of Water Resources Director, said.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Sacramento prepares for strong winds, more flooding as second winter storm bears down."